It is safe to say that every Badger fan, and most NCAA football fans, know who Jonathan Taylor is by now. However that wasn’t the case before September of 2017. Taylor was relatively unknown in Wisconsin, and many believed that Chris James and Bradrick Shaw would be the ones to lead the backfield.
In the first game against Utah State, Shaw actually got the majority of the carries. Taylor really only saw playing time in the 2nd half of the game. He rushed nine times for 89 yards and one touchdown in a 59-10 blowout.
We, as fans probably just thought he looked good because he was rushing against a bad team, but Coach Paul Chryst must have seen something in the freshman.